Property jobs turn into sand

More evidence that the property bubble in Dubai is bursting: half of the 170 estate agents in a recent survey admit that they haven't sold a single home for a month.Ever the optimists, most say the market will rebound within six months. But Paul Allen, who commissioned the poll for his website www.theestate-agentsdubai.com, says he finds their optimism "surprising".

For many in Dubai, the surprise is that he found 170 real estate brokers left to survey, following a wave of job cuts. State-owned Nakheel Properties axed 500 jobs late last month. Damac Properties has shed 200 workers while Emaar Properties, which is building the world's tallest tower, is reviewing its jobs policy. And who can blame them? Sherwoods, one of the more reputable agents, reports that home prices have fallen by about a third across Dubai since summer.

This is worrying for Dubai, and to a lesser extent for Britain.

Take Damac. It opened sales offices throughout the UK, particularly in towns with large Asian communities like Leicester and Birmingham. Its agents were doing a roaring trade at a Bollywood bash I attended at Olympia this year, flogging off-plan apartments with beach views and private gyms. Since then the pound has plummeted, credit markets have seized up and the flow of British money to Dubai has slowed to a trickle.

And there are no more lifeboats leaving Canary Wharf, ferrying credit-crunch refugees from London to tax-free luxury in the Gulf. I know, because I caught one of the last in August. As recently as this summer, jobless bankers, estate agents and even journalists were welcomed with open arms by Gulf employers desperate for talent. No more.